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State School or Private School ?
State Schools are classed as free education, but Voluntary Contributions
of about $60-$100 per child per year are normally expected, and asked for, by every
school.
Each child also has to supply their own stationery, for which a list is provided
detailing exactly what is required each year. The cost of this can be
between $100 and $200 each year.
State school uniforms can be from around $200 upwards.
Private School Fees can start from about
$800 per year, rising to $20,000+ per year, but some common figures are between
$3,000 and $6,000 per year.
As with State schools, each child also has to supply their own stationery, for which a list is provided
detailing exactly what is required each year. The cost of this tends to be
higher than the State schools.
School uniforms can work out relatively expensive. A Blaser may be about $200
and a Hat about $100
Starting School in Queensland
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Prep School:
Prep School is an early education program, provided in the the school grounds
of the majority of primary schools in Queensland.
Children attend from Monday to Friday during normal school hours, which are
generally between 9am and 3pm.
Children need to be five by 30 June in the year they enrol in
Prep.
Q:
Can children turning 5 after 30 June enrol in Prep?
A:
Children must be five by 30 June in year of enrolment. Special consideration
may be given to children from interstate or overseas who meet legislated
criteria.
http://education.qld.gov.au/#Q6
When can a child start school ? A webpage
that calculates the answer is
education.qld.gov.au
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Primary:
Primary school generally runs from year 1 to year 7, although some of the
independent schools may end primary school at year 6, and move the children to
middle school in year 7.To be enrolled in Year 1 in January, children must be five years old
by the end of the previous year. Under special circumstances, children may be enrolled at a younger age.
Parents may enrol a child in their local primary school by contacting the school directly.
For a child entering Year 1, schools require proof of the child's date of birth, such as a birth certificate, passport or visa.
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Secondary:
Students are eligible to enter the first year of secondary school, Year 8,
after completing seven years of primary education. Parents may enrol a child in their
local secondary school by contacting the school directly.
Note: Some Private/Independent schools start secondary
school in year 7.
LINKS
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Education Queensland
- http://education.qld.gov.au
Queensland Schools Directory -
Information on the directory includes contact details, school type, enrolment
numbers, regional and district sectors, types of students catered for and sport
regions. Gifted
Education In Queensland - a guide for parents of intellectually gifted
children living in Queensland, Australia, who are seeking an appropriate
education for their child
School Reporting in QLD
- After listening to the views of school communities and others around the
state, the Queensland Government has decided to make important changes to the
way school and student performance is reported to parents and are implementing
new reporting requirements in 2005 and 2006
Queensland Years 1-10 Mathematics Syllabus - Home Schooling
- For parents who choose to educate their children at home in Queensland. Home
education is a legal option in Queensland, but they do need to be registered
for home education with the Department of Education, so that they do not have
to be enrolled at a school.
Temporary Visa Holders:
Leaving School:
From 1 January 2006 the minimum school leaving age will be raised from 15 to 16 years or when a student has completed Year 10, whichever comes first. After this, the "compulsory participation phase" will commence. This phase ends when a young person -
* Gains a Senior Certificate or Certificate III (vocational qualification); or
* Has participated in eligible options for 2 years (eg. an educational program provided by a school, a course of higher education provided by a university or other provider, a TAFE course, an apprenticeship or traineeship); or
* Turns 17.
A young person's parents will be obliged to ensure he or she participates as required. This obligation does not apply where the young person is in paid employment for at least 25 hours per week or is under an employment exemption within the Vocational Education, Training and Employment Act 2000.
OP's (Overall Position Score)
At the end of year 12 most Queensland students sit the Queensland Core Skills
Test, this enables them to be eligible for an "OP Score".
The OP calculations take into account a student's best 5 Authority subjects,
ie: the 20 semester units in which they receive the highest scaled subject
achievement indicators.
In calculating OP's, all subjects are treated equally. There is no bias in favour
of certain subjects.
Students are placed in one of 25 OP bands from 1 (highest) to 25 (lowest).
Those with the highest bands get the best University options.
For the 2005 year
the following numbers of students were allocated OP's as follows:
OP1
| 656
| :
| OP6 |
1181 |
: |
OP11 |
1408 |
: |
OP16 |
1360 |
: |
OP21 |
936 |
| OP2 |
801 |
: |
OP7 |
1306 |
: |
OP12 |
1456 |
: |
OP17 |
1347 |
: |
OP22 |
712 |
| OP3 |
876 |
: |
OP8 |
1385 |
: |
OP13 |
1502 |
: |
OP18 |
1240 |
: |
OP23 |
593 |
| OP4 |
1045 |
: |
OP9 |
1408 |
: |
OP14 |
1549 |
: |
OP19 |
1148 |
: |
OP24 |
397 |
| OP5 |
1180 |
: |
OP10 |
1428 |
: |
OP15 |
1418 |
: |
OP20 |
1031 |
: |
OP25 |
280 |
OP's are only used in Queensland, the other States have different versions.
Useful Websites
Some useful websites for school information
Education Comparison between UK and Australia
A common comment is that the primary education is different here in Australia
when compared to the UK. A number of people have said that children here
are allowed to be children for longer, no real pressure on direct learning, but
lots of encouragement in learning to learn and enjoying school. More
involvement in school and class dramas, plays etc. Learning to be social
etc. As a direct age comparison, I have read that UK children are further
ahead academically, but that Australian children are more ahead in being a
person. This can change when they move to High School, and by the end of
their schooling, it seems to even itself out. One thing I do know, is that
the majority of primary school kids here just love to go to school, which is
very different to my school days :)
Enrolling your child for
School
School opening hours during the school
holidays.
Just because the children are not at school
does not mean the school is closed. This may be useful to you if you
arrive during school holidays, but want to check out schools for enrolling the
next year etc.
An example for my school (In QLD) for the Summer Christmas Holidays is:
Last day of school for Children is Dec 2nd, but the office is open until Dec 16th.
The Office opens again on Jan 9th, but the children do not go back until Jan 23rd
Private Schools
Both the Federal and the State Governments provides funding for both
Government and Non-Government schools to ensure that all students have access to
a quality education.
Many independent schools in Queensland have a particular religious
affiliation, however, most schools do not require a student to be a member of
that denomination.
Parents are the main source of funding for non-government schools which derive
their income from three sources:
Fees paid by parents and other fund raising activities.
Commonwealth Government Grants.
State Government Grants.
In 2004/05 the Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training,
calculated the average cost of educating a child in a government school as:
$7,216 per primary student
$9,319 per secondary student
In 2007, the Queensland State government grants for children in Independent
schools averaged:
$1,036 per primary and prep student.
$1,554 per secondary student.
The Federal government provided the remainder of the funds to
Private Education Costs in Australia
About a third of Australian children attend Private/Independent schools.
This is a much higher percentage than in the UK, due to the fact that the
Australian Governments, both Federal & State, contribute to the cost of EVERY
child's education, whether State or Private.
Private School Fees can start from about
$800 per year, rising to $20,000+ per year, but some common figures are between
$3,000 and $6,000 per year.
Some figures for Catholic Schools in Queensland for 2008.
There are 286 Catholic schools in Queensland. About 17% (125,000) of all
Queensland students attend Catholic schools in Queensland.
An example of Catholic school fees in Brisbane
can be seen at:
Catholic School Fees Brisbane PDF File. Their basic recommended fees
for 2007 were:
- Preschool & Primary : $744 per student or $1,048 for two children or
$1,280 per family of 3 or more students, with a building fund contribution of
$376 per primary school family.
- Secondary School : $1,576 per student or $2,628 per family (2 students or
more), with a building fund contribution of $480 per primary school family
An example of Independent school fees in SE Queensland can be seen by reading the
following PDF file:
http://www.faithlutheran.qld.edu.au/2008.pdf. Their fees for 2008 started at $2,576
for each year up to year 6, rising to $4,636 per year, for years 11 and 12.
There is also an annual Capital Funding Levy charged per family, of about $300.
There are normally discounts for 2nd, 3rd, etc., children in each family,
these discounts can be quite substantial.
Most schools also have extra charges for School Excursions etc.
Education Websites
State Government
Education Websites
Non-Government Education Authorities Websites
OVERSEAS EDUCATION
Equivalent Qualifications
A Statement of Equivalent Qualification can be issued to people who have
educational qualifications from overseas that are judged by the Authority to be
equivalent to Year 11 or Year 12 level.
These are the links for
Costs (as at June 2008)
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